Engine oil connection.



wl. MORRIS. ENGINE QIL CONNECTIUN. APPLICATION FILED FEB.' I6. I9Iy2.

Patented Oc. 26, 1915.

L. MORRIS. ENGINE' OIL CONNECTION. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16. i912.

Patentea Oct. 20, 1915.

-S H E E T 2 2 SHEETS WILLIAM Il. MORRIS, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA,ASSIGNOR T0 S. F. BOWSER &; COMPANY, INC., OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA,CGRPORATION 0F INDIANA.

ENGINE OIL CONNECTION.

Application led February 16, 1912.

To all vvwhom it 'may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. MORRIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Fort lVayne, in the county of Allen and State of Indiana,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Engine OilConnections, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to feed connections in Isystems for supplyinglubricating oil to engine bearings.

The object is to provide an improved construction and arrangement ofengine lubr 1 cating oil connections, whereby the saine is rendered moreeticient, and more easily maintained in a condition for normaloperation.

A further object is to provide an 1mproved construction and arrangementof engine oil connections and fittings whereby the same may be easilyand positively cleaned out without interfering with the running of theengine. 1

To attain these ends and to accomplish certain other new anduseful'objects, the invention consists in the features of noveltyhereinafter described, shown in the accompanying drawings forming a partof the specification, and nally pointed out more specifically in theappended claims.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a per spective view of an engine, towhich my improved oiling device is shown applied. Fig. 2 is a view of aportion of an engine showing the application of the improved oilingconnections to the connecting rod bearing at the crank shaft end. Figs.3 to 5 inclusive illustrate various forms of supports by which the oilheaders and mains are attached to various parts of the engine to belubricated. Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive illustrate the details ofconstruction of three way blow-off valve positioned at a right angleturn in the header conveniently arranged for cleaning` obstructions fromthe headern Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate the details of construction ofthe preferred form of angle valve for use with brass or copper tubing,Fig. 10 being in section; and Fig. 12 illustrates a firm of angle valveadapted for 'use with ironftubing.

ln the ycxemplification of the invention illustrated, the oil mainleading from any suitable source of oil supply not shown, is indicatedby the reference character 10, and lubricating oil may besuppliedthereto from.

.iecication of Letters Patent.

Patented Uct. 26, 1915.

Serial No. 677,995.

a tank by gravity or any other suitable means. Preferably the main 10 ismerely a branch leading from a main supply pipe, particularly wherethere are a number of engines in any one immediate locality to belubricated. The oil main 10 is'controlled by a valve indicated at 11,which may be of any desired construction, but since the main 10 liespreferably below the bed plate of the engine as shown, the bed platebeing indicated by the reference character 12, a valve operating wheelas indicated at 13, secured to the upper extremity of valve stem 141-,is mounted in the stand 15 and operatively connected with valve 11, forthe purpose of opening and closing it. By means of the valve 11 oil issimultaneously admitted to the. two branches 16, 17, the first of whichleads to a header 1S, from which branches extend to the chief movingparts of the engine to be lubricated, except the out-board bearing which-is supplied from the branch pipe 17. The feed pipes. 16, 17 are bothvalve controlled, as by the hand-operated valves indicated at 19, 20respectively. Beyond the valve 19 the feed pipe, which eX- tendsupwardly to the header 18, connects with the rearward extremity of theheader, the pipe of the same entering a T fitting, one branch of whichis in communication with the header 1S extending over the top of thecrank case. The other branch of the T fitting, which fitting isindicated by the reference character 20, may be closed with a suit ablecap or plug but which is preferably removable in order that a short pipe21 may be. connected therewith, which pipe is connected at its other endto angle valve 22, into which is adapted to be screwed or otherwisesecured tle depending feed pipe 23 of a reservoir 24, the purpose ofwhich will be hereinafter described. The header 18 is Secured to thecross head casing of the engine, indicated by the reference character25, by suitable clips which may be formed as shown in detail in Fig. 4,and consisting of an1ember 26 provided at one end with ran eye throughwhich the pipe 18 may be passed and being screw-threaded for attachmentto a similarly threaded fastening member-"27 which is secured to thecross-head casing. 25 by screws as illustrated in Fig. 4f, or othersuitable means. From the header 18 branch oil pipes extend to all theprincipal bearings of the engine except the out board bearing. The pipes28, 29 extend to the eccen rio LLL)

tric valve rocker bearings, the feed pipe 30 extending to the cross-headlubricator, the feed pipes 31, 32 extending to the governor bearings,the branch feed pipe 32 leading to the lubricating device for the maincrank shaft bearing, and the feed pipes 33 to 36 inclusive leading fromthe header 18 to the main crank shaft and eccentric bearings, the firsttwo of said pipes feeding the main crank shaft bearing and the last twosupplying the eccentric bearings.

The details of arrangement of the oil header and supply pipes will ofcourse vary with the size and organization of the inachine to belubricated, and the engine to which the invention is shown vapplied ismerely one example of a common form of steam engine in which the mainbed plate is indicated as stated by the reference character 12., thecylinder by 37, the governor by the reference character 38, the casingrovering the eccentric at 39, and the c 1ank shaft at 40. The out-boardbearing support is indicated by the reference character 41, and thebearing itself at L12.` Beyond the valve 20a and connected therewith issupply pipe 413, from which lead the branch pipes 14, 415 to theout-board bearing.

It has been heretofore proposed to run lines for feeding oilup to where.they branch and to place a cross or T joint in place of an L joint, twoopenings in the cross being plugged and one in the T joint. Under suchconditions, if the lines become blocked they could be shut oi at theengine oil stop valve, as for-example, the valve 11 or the valves 19 and20a, as shown in the present drawings. This would enable the lines to becleaned by running a wire through the pipes, but provides for only apartial cleaning` and much oil is usually spilled around and wasted indoing so. The present invention permits of different methods throughout.Primarily the system lconsists of a S- inch oil header, which is thesize preferred and shown, although any other desired size of header maybe employed. This header is provided with a stop valve as the valve 11in the branch oil main 10, or either of the stop valves 19 or 20, whichcontrol the oil systems, fed by oil passing through each of the lastmentioned valves. The header 18 beyond the stop valve 19 is providedwith a valve at or near the other extremity thereof, as for example, thethree-way valve indicated by the reference character 50, which referencecharacter refers to the casing of the valve shown in detail in Figs. 6to 9 inclusive.v The valve casing 50 is provided with the valve member51, having three way passages therein, and being provided with the valvestem 52 and hand Wheel 53, by which the valve member 51 may bepositioned as in Fig. 9 to direct oil only through the header, which isthe position in which the valve normally operates,

with the branch closed. ln case it is desired to blow oil through thatportion of the header between the stop valve 19 and the valve 50, thevalve member 51 may be positioned as in Fig. 7. The valve member 51 maybe positioned so as to direct into the crank pit, the eccentric oilguard, or as illustrated in the present embodiment of the invention, tobe discharged laterally and horizontally striking the inside edge of thecrank wheel 40, from which the oil will be discharged downwardly intothe drippan 54 and out through the discharge duct 55 and oil conductingpipe 5G to any suitable. means for the deposit of the waste oil, as forcxample, to a filter, not h erein shown and forming no part of thepresent invention, but through which the oil may be passed in a wellknown manner and puriiied to be afterward returned to the s vstcm.

In equipping an engine with my improved oil connections, the headerconsisting of that portion of the pipe indicated by the referencecharacters 16, 18 and 43 may be either formed of iron pipe or of brasspipe. lf brass.

pipe be used it is necessary that an angle valve of the type shown inFig. 10 be employed, in which view the header pipe is indicated by thereference character 18, and is provided on the upper side of the pipewith an opening as 18C leading into the casing of the angle valveiitting, which casing is indicated by the reference character 57.Fitting 57 is providedwith a valve member as indicated at 59 and abranch opening 58 leading to the opening 18c along the top side of theheader 18 which is closed by the valve 59, having valve stem (30 andhand wheel (S1, the entrance of lthe valve stem to the chamber 58 beingclosed by the packing gland 62. For the branches leading from theheader, as the branches indicated by the reference characrc1-S 1e, es,29, so, 31, se, .ae-1,33 t@ :ic inelasive, and 414 and 45, it ispreferred that copper be used as it'is capable of standing the bellmouthing or expanding of the ends and the making of the short bendsnecessary in many of the connections. ln the form of angle valve adaptedfor use on brass header pipes'lS, as shown in Fig. 10, also in Fig. 11,there is attached to the same a' piece of bell mouth copper tubing,which is indicated by the reference character G3, which is of the formas any of the copper tubes of the branch connection leading directlyfrom the bearings of the header. The manner of securing the jointbetween the copper branch pipes and the angle valve casing is shown indetail, the bell mouth portion of the tube 63 being indicated at 63, thesame impinging between the conically formed threaded nipple on the valvechamber 57 and the threaded clamping nut 611. The copper branches aresecured to' the form of angle valve ada pted for use with iron pipe asillustrated 1n ico Fig. 12, in the same manner as With the angle valveshown in Fig. 10, and the same reference characters are employed todesignate the parts in'that illustration. The form of valve, however, isdifferent for to the iron header pipe, as indicated also by thereference character 18, the angle valve is secured by having the lowernipple on the casing, indicated by the reference character 65, screwedinto an opening on the upper side iron pipe 18. A header pipeconstructed of iron will be of sufficient thickness and strength tostand the tapping and threading. The angle valve casing is provided witha valve chamber, from which a passage 66 leads through the nipple tocommunicate with the opening in the header pipe 18, this opening beingclosed by a valve 67 similar to the valve -59 carried by stem G8screwthreaded for adjustment in the valve casing 65 and secured inposition by a packing gland, the nut of which is indicated at 69, andthe hand wheel for operating the valve at 70.

Ifan engine is practically free from polished Work, painted iron headerswould be most suitable. 1f lubricator cups and other parts shovi atendency of brass finish, then the header and oil lines should bepolished brass, but if all these parts are nickel plated, then. the oilheaders and branchesv should be nickel plated also, the header of brassand' oil headers and the branches can be cleaned While the engine is inoperation 'Without interfering With the continuous feeding of lubricantto the various bearings, which is an important consideration. lf cups atthe extremities of the branch feed pipes immediately leading to thevarious bearings be of 'th'ge'combined pipe and hand feed type,sometimes c'alled pressure cups, as illustrated immediately over `thebearings at the eX- tremities of branch feed pipes 33 to 36 inclusive,and 14 and 45, for example, any of the branch feed pipes may be shut oiffor cleaning and oil supplied through these hand-fed cups until theparticular branch or branches shut off be again placed in condition fornormal use. The time required for cleaning any branch Will ordinarilynot exceed one filling of the cup. However, in the event that feeds beprovided which do notcontain reservoirs for any considerable .quantityor supply of lubricant, then it Will he necessary to provide means foradmitting oil to each series of branch feeder pipes,

which series would be shut oif with the same stop valve. I show such anarrangement in connection w1th my system, illustrated 1n Fig. 1, allofthe branch feeding pipesileady the stop valvev 19 for the purpose ofclean- 'i ing or repairing thepipes leading to this portion of thesystem, the T connection 20 may have the plug-removed therefrom and areservoir connected to the same by means of a short sectionY of pipe 21threaded at one extremity into an angle valve 22, and screwthreaded atone end into the T connection 20. The angle valve 22 may be incommunication with a discharge spout 23 of reservoir 2li of funnel formas illustrated, and after stop valve 19 be closed oil may be admitted tothe system beyond the stop valve 19 from the reservoir 24 as desired.The reservoir 24 will of course be positioned so that oil may reach allparts of the system by gravity. lVhen the system is used in connectionwith the form illustrated in Fig. 1, it will not be necessary to havethe reservoir more than about twelve inches above the level of theA mainportion of the header 18.

In Fig. 3 there is shown a form of base clip indicated bythe referencecharacterv 70, adapted to secure the branch feed pipes to various partsof the engine, as for eX- ample, to the main crank shaft bearing and thecasing over the eccentric. It is desir'- able that the header pipe 18 besupported some distance from the engine parts and for this purpose Ishow two forms of specially designed supports, one of which is'describedin connection with Fig. 4, and the other of which is illustrated in Fig.5, the latter being particularly designed to support the angular branchofthe header 18 adjacent the main crank shaft bearing and consisting ofa casting 7 2 adapted to he secured by suitable screws to portions Iofthe engine, and being provided with a threaded nipple adapted to receivethe interior of the threaded end of a section of pipe 73 cutoff to anydesiredlength, the other end of Which is likewise interiorly threadedand adapted to receive a threaded nipple on the end of an eye 74 adaptedto surround the header pipe 18.

It is important that the branches leading directly from the headerto thevarious cups and portions to be lubricated should be supplied Withunions at each end so that they may be readily detached for cleaningpurposes. The header of the oil main should y k\ clean the same or toget it out of the Way of other parts that may require disconnectingwhile the engine is in operation.

In order to avoid the possibility of accumulation of foreign materialsand ingredients that sometimes are found in lubricating materials whichmay clog and stop the iow, it is desirable that the oil mains and theheader in particular should have smooth bottoms along as much of theirlength as possible, and it is to provide particularly an oil header withbranches leading therefrom in which there will be no obstruction to thelow ot the oil along the bottom side of the pipes that is one of theprincipal objects of the invention. It is also found that screw fittingsand nipples placed in line, particularly in assembling the branch pipes,are not desirable, as the thi' l.ads may not be entirely uniform on theends oi the pipe which will result in various sections of the pipesbeing out ot' alinement when assembled and hence disl'iguring theappearance of the system. To this end the features shown in l `igs. 10,ll and l2 are particularly desirable, since it enables me to employ aheader of a continuous section ot tubing, as when brass tubing isemployed with the fittings shown in Figs. 10, and 1l the fitting may be`soldered around the pipe, and when iron header tubing is employed as inFig. 12 theI pipe maybe tapped and the fitting att-ached withoutcutting` the pipe. rlhus it will be seen that when fittings ot the typeshown in Figs. V1() to 12 are employed for connecting the branch pipeswith the header the mlmber ot' joints in the pip'eI will be, greatlyreduced in each installation. In some `,ases where my improved systemhas been applied to engines o't the type similar to that illuS- tratedherein. it has been found that the` number of joints in the pipe hasbeen reduced to about one-.tenth that was formerly necessary wheresystems were installed with the ordinary threaded j forms ol littings.'lhe necessity 'for reducing thel nun'iber ot joints as much as possibleon account ot clogging of joints and leakage has already been explainedand will be obvious to those skilled in they art.

ln order that the invention might be understood the details of thepreferred embodiment have been shown and described, lult it is notdesired to be limited to the exact details, 'tor it will bel apparentthat those skilled in the art may resort to modifications and variousadaptations of the invention without departing from the` purpose andlspirit thereo't'.

vWhat l claim is:

l. 'lhccombimltion in a lubricating system -for supplying lubricant to amachine, olE a pipe line or header adapted to Afurnish msc/,eeer

oil to the machine from common source ot supply, an angle valve casingadapted to be secured to the said pipe line or header adliacent anopening in the upper side in thc said pipe line or header, the saidangle valve casing being provided with a chamber and an opening leadingfrom the chamber to thev pipe line or 'header opening, means forcontrolling the chamber opening o'l` the valve casing, and means fo 1^attaching thereto a branch feeder pipe adapted to lead to the part to belubricated.

The combination in a lubricating tem adapted to supply lubricant to amachine, oi a pipe line or header for supplying lubricant from a sourceoi supply, a valve. for closing the pipe line or header to the source ofsupply, means for affording' access to the interior of the pipe line orheader for the purpose ot claning samei and a. portable detachabledevice for supplying the said pipe .line or header with an auxiliary`feed of lubricant. said device comprising a container. an outlet pipeor duct tor said container, means lor seemfing the outlet pipe or ducttothe pipe line or header for admitting lubricant therefrom into theheader, aiid a valve for controlling the passage in the said outlet pipeline or duet.

fl. The combination with a supply main vfor conducting lubricating' oil.of conveyer outlets leadingtherefrom to journals, said couvever outletsbeing taken from said main at a point away from its bottom, the bottomoi said main being continuous and unbroken past said conveyer outlets.,a drip return system tor delivering` oil back to the lubricating oilsupply main, and a` blow-oil' at the'end of the said main Ibeyond theoutlets to Said journals. said blow-o'tll discharging into said dripreturn system.

l. The combination with a supply main for conducting lubricating oil,conveyer outlets to journals being taken from said main at a pointremote from its bottom, each of said conveyor outlets to liournalshaving a valve at said supply main with a removable connection betweenthe journals and supply main, the bottom of said main being continuous.and unbroken past said conveyer outlets. a drip return system whichdelivers oil back to the said supply main, and a blow-off at the end ofsaidmain beyond the conveyor outlets to said journals, said blowotfdischarging into said drip return system.

In testimony Whereotl I have signed my naine to this specilication, inthe presence of two subscribingI witnesses, on this 20th day ot'December,'A. l). 1911.

l'VlLTilAM L. MORRIS. lllitnesses:

J. lV. Uiuzows, (l. M. -Sirrr-L

